JUSTICE LEAGUE - SECRET SOCIETY

Now can you guess what the following bad guys all have in common? Abra Kadabra. Mad Hatter. Amos Fortune. Bane. The Monocle. Doctor Psycho. The Calculator. And Rainbow Raider. Why, yes; that is correct, dear reader! They have absolutely nothing to do with this 45 minute cartoon made in 2004. Congratulations. You win absolutely nothing.

What do you get if you group together a bunch of known super villains,
get them to trust each other, and then lead them to swipe a new member away from
the dastardly arms dealer, Morgan Edge?

No! You don't get the 'Injustice
League', silly. Instead, you get Gorilla Grodd and his new 'Secret Society'. Namely:
Sinestro, Giganta, the Shade, Killer Frost, the Parasite, plus their newest recruit,
Clayface.

Alright. I know what you're thinking to yourself, folks.
You're thinking something like 'So what! I'm sure the Justice League can handle
them', right? Especially when they manage to track this motley crew down to a
disused warehouse, far out of town! But again, 'no'! I'm afraid not. Presently the
League aren't really seeing eye to eye as a team. And after a bit of a skirmish
-- before a bit of a practice -- they get their collective assess kicked into
touch by 'The Society', resulting in them to part ways not so long thereafter.

Ouch! Now doesn't all of that sound pretty bad to you? Huh? However,
does it sound as bad as when the Flash then tries to do his best Batman impersonation?
Or does it sound as bad as when each individual member of the Justice League
gets kidnapped, one, by one, by one?

Well, whatever the case may be, that's most probably why
what next transpires has a song and dance when Grodd reveals that he's been playing
around with the heroes emotions. As fights are hard - a Gorilla quotes 'the
Bard' - a Lantern comes out to play - and please don't worry my friends,
everything turns out for the best at the end of the day.

Kind of.

THE REVIEW:

Now 'Justice
League - Secret Society' is what I would call a really-really great cartoon. It
told a smashing story about a bunch of villain fighting a bunch of heroes
whilst they weren't in the best of spirits. Furthermore, it took this premise,
and spiced it up with character, humour, pathos, and everything else I've
always loved about this series.

Yeah. No kidding, folks. This is what I would call an
animated adventure that hardly has any flaws in it what so ever. Granted, the
pacing was slightly uneven in places. And the visuals were kind of dated
compared today's high standard. But apart from these two miniscule gripes --
no -- everything was shipshape and Bristol
fashion (i.e. F*cking amazing).

Here, before I praise this film any more, lets have some
'Secret Society' facts, shall we? (1) This episode first aired on the same day that
the American government tested the world's largest non-nuclear bomb in Florida
-- the 22nd of November, 2003. (2) Gerry Conway, who was the writer that originally
came up with the concept behind the 'Secret Society', also created the Punisher
for Marvel; and Firestorm
for DC Comics. (3) Although they were initially called 'The Brotherhood of
Crime', the first incarnation of the 'SS' was formed by a doppelganger of
Darkseid, who cobbled together Clayface, Star Sapphire, Captain Cold, Gorilla
Grodd, plus a clone of Manhunter, all with the intention of enslaving humanity.
(4) In a classic JSA / JLA team-up, the Ultra-Humanite devised the next version
of 'The Society', by amalgamating two sets of villains from two different earths.
From 'Earth 1' there was: Signal Master, Killer Frost, The Floronic Man, and
The Cheeter. Whereas from 'Earth 2' there was: Brainwave, Psycho-Pirate,
Rag-Doll, The Monocle, and the Mist. (5) There was a whole issue of 'Crisis on
Infinite Earths' dedicated to how all of the villain's in the DC Universe
joined together, and then tried to use this intergalactic event to their advantage
-- #9, December, 1985. (6) During the 'Infinite Crisis' cross-over event, Earth
Prime's Alexander Luthor took a stab at forming his own version of this team,
this time with the intention of siphoning off their energies to take over the
multi-verse. (7) In late 2007, early 2008, there was a miniseries called
'Salvation Run', where the governmental organisation called 'Checkmate' transported
every single member that ever joined the Secret Society -- plus many-many more that
didn't -- to another dimension, so they could kill each other in the process.
(8) 'The Secret Society of Super Villains' has plagued popular culture since
their initial inception. Heck, they've been on 'Super Friends', many episodes
of the 'Justice League', 'Justice League Unlimited', 'The Brave and The
Bold', 'Young Justice', plus the straight to DVD movies 'Crisis
on Two Earths' and 'Doom', and even the 'DC Universe Online' video game.

OK, so now that's out of my head, lets me just mention that
one of the most enlightening aspects about 'Justice League - Secret Society', hasn't
really got anything to do with the overall premise. Although that was very-very
good. What I liked about it the most was how it defined 'the League' as a
group.

You see, in my eyes they've never really been a 'family of heroes'
like the 'Teen
Titans' or the 'Doom Patrol'. Rather, they are a well oiled fighting unit who
have banded together because they are stronger as a whole, and can do greater
things as a team than individually. However, like this tale perfectly illustrated, whenever ego
get in the way of things, sometimes the whole can be less than the sum of its
parts.

Do you know what I mean, dear reader? The League are like a
team of 'office workers' more than a couple of chaps down the local comic book
shop, who share similar tastes in style, topics, or other personal matters.

Well, that's what I think anyway? Don't you agree, Superman?

Ha! Overall this was a smashing cartoon. It was fun. Full of
action and character. Plus is a must see for any fan of a good old fashioned adventure.
Class.